THANK YOU, LORD! :)
We have the new apartment! :)
Although the contract still has to be signed, we have agreed with the landlord to rent the apartment! The landlord was not willing to reduce the rent for the full amount that we offered, but countered with an amount that is manageable for us, and still quite generous on his part. Pray God would bless him for this! :)
Another huge praise report, (without which the landlord's willingness to rent would still be out of reach for us), is that God has provided in some very unique ways for the monthly rent for this apartment. More details on that in further postings.
Still, as any ministry, the work is continuous and so the expenses are, too. Please pray that God will continue to give us wisdom and provide as He sees fit. I really believe that this office is going to dramatically change the effectiveness of Tree of Life's ministry as well as my own personal life and ministry.
Thank you all so much for your prayers! We really need them. One big lie of the enemy (satan) is that your prayers don't matter or make a difference. Or that if you don't have hours to spend in prayer why pray at all? Or if you still have things you need to change in your life, you can't start to pray yet. Or..yadda yadda yadda. ITS ALL LIES! :)
Like every good father, God loves to hear from His children and wants to meet their needs. I don't exactly understand how it works that He already knows our needs but wants to hear from us anyway..(yes, I went to Bible School, I could give you a Biblical answer on this, but sometimes it still doesn't really fill my soul as to why I need to pray. Just being honest here!)...but I know that it is about fellowship...He wants to hear our hearts and so then for us to see that He DID hear, that He DOES care, and for our friendship with Him to grow...it is also about obedience. He has told us to come to Him with our requests and so we do. It's also about humility. Everytime I pray, it reminds me, God, and satan that I know that I need God for everything and that I know that I can do nothing without Him and that I know that He IS able to meet all my needs.
So...pray when you're sitting at a green light, or on the metro (for my European friends reading this), or waiting in line somewhere, or just whenever the thoughts of one another strike you! :) A thought can so easily be turned into a prayer simply by acknowledging God...."yeah, so God, you noticed I'm thinking about them, so help them out with this situation, let them know your presence and have your peace..." or joy, or strength, or healing, or whatever you know they need. And you know the greatest part? Just like a mom or dad whose little one asks for a "gambelburger" the good parents know to give the child a "hamburger" even though he didn't exactly ask for it perfectly correctly. (No vegetarian discussions here on whether or not its good to eat red meat, ok?) :)
God knows our hearts and hears our prayers and He says that .."you fathers - if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or for bread, would you give them a stone? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! If then you all, being sinful people, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"
Yes, this is - in context - talking about giving the Holy Spirit, but the nature of God that it shows ,how He is good and generous and giving good gifts, this is true in every situation.
Anyway..sermon over. Tapes are available in the foyer. I gotta get things gathered up to go to Hungary..please keep asking Poppa for good bread for me in Hungary and I will be remembering you all, too. :)
